Your business often relies on saying “yes” to customers and then trusting your own skills, energy and aptitude to deliver on time. But when you also rely on a supplier to make sure you meet your deadline, you have to trust their energy and professionalism as well. Mills Display has a proven record over 30 years of providing a link to a national and international range of suppliers of retail display products. Having them arrive on time through Airfreight Deliveries at your business so you can fulfil your customers’ expectations.

We carry a warehouse-load of products to be able to turnaround orders as fast as possible but sometimes – because of large orders or difficult-to-find items – it’s necessary to airfreight products into New Zealand.

That’s where our experience clicks in. Because our shipping connections and global network of suppliers means we can find and deliver what you want when you need it. Mills Display customer support and sales expert Lena Lautua says it’s vital to understand the lead-in time for any order. However, once a business has set Mills Display in action they can leave everything else up to them.

Case study about Airfreight Deliveries

When a print company got a large job with an incredibly tight deadline out of the blue, they realised they needed 6000 clips to complete the order. These may only seem like a small part of a large process. Still, for this company to fulfil its obligation to its client they needed the clips within a week. “They approached us on the Monday and told us that they need the clips by Friday,” Lena says. “But the clips they needed had to be sourced from the United States. We knew that that would mean the earliest we could get them into New Zealand would realistically be the beginning of the following week. “We’re able to do our very best on very short lead-in times. So I quoted him on the realistic lead-in time and he was able to negotiate with his client on the deadline.”

Because of the speed necessary to get the clips into New Zealand, Mills Display were then able to prioritise the quote. Then we confirm the order with the supplier in the US. This business didn’t have an account with Mills Display which delayed the process slightly. That was due to a day it took for the payment to be made. However, once that was finalised the actual delivery to the business took less than a week. “We get a lot of print and design companies. Those use us to air-freight products into the country because we’re used to the process,” Lena says. “The customer doesn’t have to worry at all about the shipping. All they have to do is confirm the order and we take care of the rest.”

The key elements to ensuring the fastest possible turnaround and best quality and price for your international order are:

Payment.

If you’re an account customer you order can be confirmed straight away. On the contrary, cash customers would have to have their payment confirmed before the freight is confirmed.

Lead-in times.

Right from the outset, Mills Display’s experienced team will be able to let you know realistic lead-in times for delivery. Therefore, you can be confident in how you negotiate with your clients and organise your own processes.

Relationships with suppliers and shipping companies.

These are generally companies which Mills Display has worked alongside many hundreds of times. We trust them to deliver on time and to a high degree of quality. We are happy to rely on their reliability so you can rely on ours.

Pricing.

Because Mills Display works with specific shipping companies to move large amounts of goods into New Zealand regularly, we’re able to get the best priority pricing for products.

Fine details.

Shipping freight relies on specific knowledge and calculations about things such as volumetric weight (the combination of weight and the amount of space which the product takes up), MAF clearance (all products coming into New Zealand need to conform to local regulations) and Customs clearance. Having to handle these yourself can be a major headache. However, Mills Display has years of experience dealing with these things so you don’t have to.

For more information about how Mills Display can turn around a fast order to keep your business up and runnning. You can also email us or talk to one of our salespeople on Live Chat. Follow us on Facebook and Google My Business for our latest products and NZ Retail updates. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

In this Blog post, we want to raise awareness about the latest Food Display Trends.

Innovation and technology

This year’s World Fair is called Expo Milano 2015. It takes place in the northern Italian city of Milan throughout October. The used theme is “Feeding the Planet; Energy for Life”.

It’s focusing on innovative ways to explain and tackle global concerns such as waste, hunger, poverty and pollution. Furthermore, it provides a staging ground for innovative new ways to display and sell food. And with 20 million people visiting the Expo and a World Fair history of having introduced and popularised now common foodstuffs such as ice cream cones and hot dogs, it’s not surprising that many people pay attention to what was on display.

Mobile Technology for Food Display Trends

Many of these innovations have to do with retail food outlets. Those are involved in the use of mobile technology to help customers understand food display trends:

For example, Sommelyou is a virtual sommelier app for use in restaurants, supermarkets, and at home. This helps you choose the perfect wine at all times. Tapfood is a mobile application which lets pizzerias manage their orders by optimising the wait, delivery and pickup times of orders received over the counter and via telephone. There were also apps to help consumers take food allergies into account when shopping for groceries, eating out and planning meals.

Supermarkets of the Future

But possibly the most relevant exhibition was the Supermarket of the Future in the Future Food District. It combined interactive displays with new technologies. This helps to show how food will be produced, distributed, prepared and consumed in the future. Through an extremely user-friendly system they are able to access information on an overhead screen about where the product come from, the production and the transportation to the store (as well as nutritional and health details). To do that the shopper placed their hand over the product of interest. The idea was to direct behavioral change through creating informed customers. This is one of the most sophisticated food display trends.

Big box stores thinking small

In the US, retail giant Target suffered a major cybersecurity breach a couple of years ago. However, it is fighting to regain trust in its brand by overhauling its grocery departments.

In one of its huge SuperTarget stores in Minnetonka, Minnesota, it’s testing out the concept of giving more store space and creating new layouts to more “local and better-for-you” products. This is the traditional domain of smaller markets and specialty shops.

Fresh produce is displayed in “an open market” style with more room devoted to granola, yogurt, fresh-baked artisan breads and grass-fed meat. The more open-plan market feel is backed up by more “playful signs and displays”. They are highlighting healthy options, cross-merchandising and information on how to use ingredients.

Target’s move towards what it calls a “grocery reinvention” is based around commandeering a style of merchandising and display. It was once the preserve of smaller stores. They are adding little to their stock, just redistributing what they have to give the impression that they are adapting to the needs of their customers. Something which any owner of a big box store can do with clever positioning of retail display units, shelving and display cabinets and customised signage.

Fast food – the healthy option

The New Yorker’s November issue concentrated on the emergence of a new style of dining and shopping for food. It focuses on health as well as speed. Pointing out that, even in a nation renowned for its super-size portions and high obesity rates, 2015 has been the first year since 1970. That was when “McDonald’s will closed more locations in the US than it opens”.

Instead, the article Freedom from Fries argues, fast food has come to mean restaurants. Examples are Sweetgreen which focuses on serving salads and fresh soups. There “you can purchase in three minutes and eat in five”. Another exaple is Lyfe Kitchen. It’s the co-founder of which sees his brand becoming “the McDonald’s of the future… the healthy, inviting, sustainable McDonald’s”.

As well as the served food seems to be healthy, there’s a great deal of emphasis on these new-look food outlets having the right décor. Lyfe Kitchen’s customers “sit at reclaimed-wood tables on chairs made from recycled water bottles”. They choose from menus coded three ways to differentiate everything; vegan or vegetarian; and gluten-free.

Food Display Trends focus on local Food

The same article included data from research company Technomic. It showed that 73% of people aged between 22 and 37 would be more likely to buy food described as “local”. It also talked about large herb gardens at the entrance to restaurant chains. These are all part of a “health halo” which savvy foot stores can adopt which they market fresh, healthy produce.

To get the right look and feel for your food displays to buy into this style of marketing means getting the information about the source of the food. It also means giving that information to your customers. Therefore you should use good signage which talks directly to farmers and suppliers. The right sort of retail display will also reflect a local and natural narrative. This happens by using natural products such as recycled wooden crates. And again, letting customers know the source.

If any of these trends have inspired you to change the way your company does business – contact Mills Display. Find the right custom solution or off-the-shelf products. Download a catalogue, email us or talk to one of our salespeople on Live Chat for more information. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

Enquire Now with Mills Display

If you want Mills Display to help your business get a unique look by sourcing the best retail display products from around the world, message or LiveChat us via the website or call us on 09 634 5962.

Follow us on Facebook and Google My Business for our latest products and NZ Retail updates. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

Once upon a time, check-out assistant and cash till was all to expect from point of sale trends. But as we stare down the barrel of 2016, it’s becoming more and more important to make the most out of the opportunities that POS brings.

The biggest point of sale trends by far is digital POS with ABI research. This declares that by next year 85% of Point of Sale Trends terminal shipped worldwide will support contactless payments. This is a major move which ought to benefit stores which turnover a large number of small-value sales. It’s also important for stores which want to shift customers through POS as quickly as possible.

More data from Juniper Research also claims there will be more than 1.2 billion smartphones shipped worldwide by 2017. This will include digitally-enabled payment solutions such as Near Field Communication (NFC) or contactless technology.

How to adapt your business to the Point of Sale Trends

So, as your POS changes, how can you adapt your business to reap the rewards which technology brings?

• Flexible systems:

  Customers now demand a crossover between their bricks-and-mortar stores and their online experiences. A key component of this is that people who know that a purchase can be just a click away aren’t content to wait in queues. Furthermore, they’re used to fast payments using touch-and-go card technology. Mobile payment systems allow retailers to decide on how flexible they need their POS to be. Whether they can use tablets or mobile devices to take payment systems to the customer.

• Marketing opportunity:

  Anyone who has bought a glossy magazine or a packet of mints in a supermarket knows the power of marketing and display at the point of sale trends. But location marketing technology such as iBeacons allows you to target customers whose mobile devices are receptive to transmitted information. This allows you the chance to develop offers or simply make contact with customers in real time. Also, your POS is still the ideal situation at which to grab them.

• Data:
  

  Your point of sale system needs to be more than a money collection system and an area which offers the chance to market to your customer. It’s also your primary touch-point with your customer. It is your best chance to gather data on the type of customer you attract and what they think of your store. From the smallest business having a suggestion box through to a major company gathering sales data. It’s vital you make the most of your POS. Working with this data efficiently will allow you to keep track of stock. It also determines point of sale trends within your business.

• Measurements and analysis:

  It’s a fundamental principle of business that data is only as useful as the tools you use to analyse it. It’s all very well gathering a huge database of clients and customers, but you have to use that database wisely. Ideally cross-referencing customers with their purchasing trends and dealing with them on a personal level. Equally, keeping track of your sales may simply allow you to keep on top of your stock levels. However, why not expand the analysis to show which marketing campaigns are working well and which messages, displays and retail goods are making their mark with which types of individuals. Point of sale trends has always allowed you to see general trends. Still, the focus over the past 18 months and heading into 2016 and beyond will be to personalise those trends. It’s also important to understand your individual customers and refine your messages to those which have most impact.

• Promotion of inbound marketing:

  Marketing trends are moving away from solely using outbound strategies such as emails, cold-calling, face-to-face meetings and traditional media to involving more and more inbound marketing. This involves your business using its experience to become an authority on its chosen specialist field. This requires inviting people to visit its website or to events within store which promote that topic. If you publish quality content, those people who read it are likely to return for more. Although they might not make a purchase every time – they are likely to think of you whenever they do want to make a purchase. This type of content – infographics, how-to guides, recipe cards etc – work particularly well online but they can also be created to work instore at your point of sale. This has a two-pronged advantage in that your regular and occasional customers are made aware of your online presence. It’s also reinforcing your authority in your chosen area exactly at the point at which your customer is making their purchase.

• Digital POS innovation:
  

  Bricks-and-mortar stores are fast fighting against the speed and functionality of online shopping by adapting digital point-of-sale highlights to their store experience to create the type of “destination shopping” which keeps people returning to their shops. Examples include loyalty points for using POS apps in-store; payments via tweets; video walls displaying modeled clothing purchases; smartphone self-checkouts; product information downloads to correspond with purchases; price-matching apps tied to shoppers’ selections; quick-and-easy charity donations at POS.

For more inspiration about how Mills Display can help customise your point of sale system to make the most of new technology, email us or talk to one of our salespeople on Live Chat. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

Enquire Now with Mills Display

If you want Mills Display to help your business get a unique look by sourcing the best retail display products from around the world, message or LiveChat us via the website or call us on 09 634 5962.

Follow us on Facebook and Google My Business for our latest products and NZ Retail updates. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

Nothing helps you stand out from the crowd like bespoke, branded custom retail product displays.

From signage, storage and point of sale to your entire store or showroom’s layout, it pays to reinforce your brand and make the most of your merchandise by using custom-created retail products.

Guide for Custom Retail Product Displays

Mills Display excels at creating a full range of retail store products to suit your specific needs. So to help you find the perfect fit, here’s our 10-stage plan.

• Scout out your store:

  You probably know your store like the back of your hand. All the shelf displays, retail counters, point of sale counters and retail racks. But it’s worth taking another look to see for yourself what you customise to help reinforce your brand. Help tell your business’s story, and help guide the customer to make that purchase.

• Identify goals:

  Why do you want to create customised display product? If it’s to reinforce your brand you might look to get your company logo printed on items. Examples are shopping baskets, trolleys, display cabinets or signage; if it’s to help tell the business’s story, you might look to custom-create display stands out of different materials. For instance, wooden crates to give an organic, natural feel, or moulded plastics to give a sleek modern look. Whether it’s to help push sales, you might look to customise signage to guide buyers through the store or link products together which might not otherwise sit together in the store.

• Talk to our team:

  Once you know where you’re looking to add customised display solutions to your store and you understand your goals – talk to our team at Mills Display. We’ve had years of experience creating the right fit for thousands of businesses throughout New Zealand. Therefore we know a few tricks of the trade. Our website has a specialised custom solution form where you can outline your issue and we’ll get right back to you. Alternatively, you can contact us via Live Chat on the website, call us on +64 9 634 5962 or pop into the Auckland showroom at 327A Neilson Street, Penrose.

• Choose your level of customisation:
  

  We have a good range of items which are able to be customised. For example you can choose your own colour of shopping basket or have your logo printed on any number of styles of shelf-talkers. Alternatively, you can choose to start from scratch and have an entirely new display product created to suit your needs. In the latter case, we can arrange to create anything from moveable display stands to customised packaging.

• Measure up:

  After your initial talk with Mills Display, you should have a good idea about what’s going to work for your business. Now you need to get to grips with the specifics. If you’re hanging posters, you need to know how to be fix them to the ceiling; whether you’re arranging shelf-talkers, you need to know the right size; if you’re displaying food, you need to know the food safety grade of the desired material; you’re are looking for matching colours to your brand? You need to know the specific make-up of that colour. Our experienced team can be on call to help you every step of the way during this vital stage.

• Arrange a site visit:

  We’ll come to see you to make sure we’ve got every angle covered and to talk to all the people involved in making the purchase and using the product. It’s amazing how often a site visit will uncover a solution. Although none of us have thought about up until this point. Plus, we have tens of thousands of products in our catalogues and, as many of our happy customers have found out, understand how they can be used across a range of different businesses.

• Arrange for a demonstration or prototype:

  Depending on what level of customisation you require, we will be able to show you exactly how our bespoke display products will look and work for you. This could occur during the initial site visit. Also, if you’re looking for something to be manufactured specifically to your needs, we’ll arrange for a prototype to be made up before you commit to a full order.

• Check you’ve got what you wanted:

  This vital step means checking your branding, colours, measurements and functionality are all correct. A demonstration or prototype is only as useful as the people checking them over. Moreover, there’s always the chance that seeing your display product in situ reveals an extra issue. There is a solution in the same order.

• Make your order:

  Once you’re happy with the level of customisation and its level of functionality, you can place your full order. Depending on whether this will then require sourcing products from overseas, or manufacturing bespoke items from our New Zealand workshop, we will let you know our turnaround time.

• Feedback and analysis on the product:

  This is the step which many businesses fail to follow through on. Also, it’s vital that you analyse the success of your customised display products either though talking to your customers or by looking at the data surrounding your sales. The beauty of customised creations is that they can be repeated if deemed successful. Otherwise, you can adapt if you encounter further issues. Mills Display is always happy to work alongside our customers. Hence, it’s our goal to continually update their display products to adapt to their customers and business’s needs.

For more inspiration about how Mills Display can help customise the perfect display solution for your business, download a catalogue, email us or talk to one of our salespeople on Live Chat. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

Enquire Now with Mills Display

If you want Mills Display to help your business get a unique look by sourcing the best retail display products from around the world, message or LiveChat us via the website or call us on 09 634 5962.

Follow us on Facebook and Google My Business for our latest products and NZ Retail updates. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

Because retail involves a constant battle to find new ways to engage customers we thought we’d talk to an expert about how New Zealand stores can use innovative marketing and new trends to raise their sales.

Valentyna Melnyk is Associate Professor at the School of Communication, Journalism & Marketing at Massey University and spends much of her time visiting and researching countries around the world. Therefore she knows what works and what’s fresh in the world of retail marketing.

So we asked her what the main trends were at the moment and how to capitalise on them.

Main trends and ways to engage customers

“I think there are two big trends now. One that it is now more about appealing to emotions/entertainment from the store environment. And the second is the quality of personal interaction,” she said.

Valentyna says the emotional component “has been very much ignored” in New Zealand marketing for a long time. However, we had a “head start” when it came to personal interaction. That’s “because it is a small country and we do value one on one interactions”.

So first of all, appealing to the emotions and the senses. How can the way you kit out your store affect the way your customers feel?

Valentyna says there’s a growing trend for many stores to opt for straightforward sensory tricks. Examples are using scents to represent what they’re selling or for decorating their stores in brighter colours. Those feel “more warming and comforting”.

But she added that it’s vital for stores to match their approach to their stock. After all, warm, sensual colours may work well for clothing and the smell of freshly baked bread is a guaranteed attraction for a food store. But neither helps sell IT.

Examples for good ways to engage customers

Valentyna says that Vodafone is a good example of a retailer that’s working well with the new trend. That is by breaking down the barriers between the customer and the product. Because, in the world of hi-tech phones and tablets, it’s all about being able to touch and handle the new designs. Therefore you can see how they feel and what they’re capable of achieving.

“When you’re talking about Vodafone, they want something with more tactile stimulation. As a retailer, you really want the customer to try to hold the phone and remove the barrriers from the need to ask. So they often have stands where you can just try to hold the product to get that sensory feeling.”

The way a store appeals to the senses is a great way to set it apart from the growing trend towards online shopping. Here customers are becoming used to parting with their money without ever handling the products.

A second way where bricks and mortar stores can fight back against online shopping is by offering a more personal experience. Valentyna says New Zealand is perfectly placed to capitalise on what’s a growing global trend for more interactive customer service.

New Zealand as a leading country in retail environment

“I think these trends are just starting from research not so much from retail experience. So they are still yet to penetrate into the retail environment. But I think New Zealand is definitely better; probably the best country in the world for having a personal approach to people. I travel a lot in my work and I haven’t seen a country which would be more likely to have this warm personal type of interaction. Maybe in the Pacific Islands but certainly not in bigger countries in Europe or the US.”

In practical terms, this means more than a friendly smile and greeting. It means developing a rapport with your customers and gathering information on them. That’s how you can understand their individual preferences and can respond to their personal requests.

“I keep advising from little stores upwards. Know your customers and give them a sense that they could chat with you and give them the sense that you value that interaction. Then you are helping them with their specific shopping goals. This would be a very strong point for smaller retailers. Other larger retailers just wouldn’t be able to match. That’s just because of the nature of the different retail environments.”

Other ways to incorporate customers

Again, the practical ways that you can incorporate this trend into your store involves working alongside the type of stock you sell. For example, in food retail if you can discover via data collection that certain customers at a specific time of time are usually time-poor – say, during their lunch hour – then you can adapt your marketing accordingly by moving ready meals and takeouts to displays at the front of store.

Or if you know your clients’ birthdays, anniversaries or special events and you’re in clothing retail, then you can target them with ideas. For example for a new dress for those specific occasions. Hence you ensure those dresses are in stock when they are able to browse.

Even the way your store is laid out with point of sale, display cabinets, shelving and other retail displays can be designed to appeal to them. Those offer advice on alternative uses for products or ways in which different products can work together.

In retail’s constant battle to attract customers Valentyna says that New Zealand is already a world leader. It is appealing to the new trends of emotional and sensory engagement, and personal interaction. It’s now simply a matter of putting what comes naturally to us into practice.

For more information on how Mills Display can custom-build or find a simple solution to your business’s efforts to engage with customers, contact one of Mills Display’s experts via email, Livechat with us on the website or phone our Auckland showroom on 09 634 5962. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.

Enquire Now with Mills Display

If you want Mills Display to help your business get a unique look by sourcing the best retail display products from around the world, message or LiveChat us via the website or call us on 09 634 5962.

Follow us on Facebook and Google My Business for our latest products and NZ Retail updates. Also, take a look at our 8 innovative retail merchandise display ideas for you.